Nothing Like Homemade Bread and Soup

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

My mom came over for lunch the other day, and it just so happened that we had a loaf of bread going into the oven that morning. And since homemade bread tastes even better with homemade soup, it seemed like the natural menu for that day's lunch. And since the day was cloudy and dreary, I decided we needed a little shot of sunshine in soup form. It worked--my day got infinitely brighter after sharing our crusty, dense bread and gingery-lemony carrot soup with my mom.

Huevos Rancheros in Tortilla Cups

The big Michigan-Ohio State game happened this past weekend. This, I've learned, is a very big deal (I went to a tiny all-women's college with no football team, so the world of rabid college football fans is pretty foreign to me).

We thought about going to a bar with mobs of other Michigan fans to share in the camaraderie (and possible misery) of the game. But instead, last minute, we decided we'd rather lounge luxuriously in our own home than cram into a tiny corner at the bar, so we invited a friend-and-fellow-fan over to our house for a football brunch. Even though the game proved heartbreaking, at least we ate well.

Alton Brown's Pot Roast

Dark, rainy days trigger cravings for warm, hearty comfort foods from my childhood. I never want spaghetti or meatloaf on a warm, sunny day. But when the clouds roll in and the winds start a-blowing, I've got braised meats on my mind.

I don't have a go-to pot roast recipe, so I rooted around a bit on the internets. Of all the recipes I found, Galen and I decided to try this one first. It turned out well, and Galen loved it. I think I'll tweak it a bit next time--it's quite sweet with the raisins and the balsamic, so I think I'll cut the raisins in half and use more beef stock than vinegar. But the results from the original recipe are good enough to post for posterity, so I hope you'll consider trying it.

My Dad's Putanesca Sauce

Most of my best childhood memories involve food or food-related activities. Mom did most of the day-to-day cooking, but Dad loved to get his hands in the kitchen now and again. My Dad actually taught my Mom to cook--or really to cook with love for the love of eating great food. They cooked a lot together when they were newly-marrieds-without-kids. I mean marathon cooking, where they'd spend all day in the kitchen making, for example, homemade lobster bisque for a dinner party. Or they'd go out to a restaurant, fall in love with a dish, and try to recreate it at home, making it over and over again to tweak their recipe into the perfect replication.

This is one of those recipes. One night, way back in the day, they dined at Peter Dow's Cafe Juanita. And there they ate a putanesca like they'd never eaten before. It wasn't your basic spicy tomato sauce with olives and capers. Capers, yes, but olives, no. And the typically brassy sauce was instead sophisticatedly sultry, slightly seductively sweet, with just the right kick of hot pepper and tangy, salty capers. With that first taste in mind, my dad carefully crafted a sauce to fit his memory. For almost as long as I can remember, this has been one of my family's favorite dishes, one of our few go-tos in our ever-changing recipe repertoire.

Because we've never reduced this recipe to writing--it's like a true family recipe, passed on by my parents by showing me how to make it, what the ratios look like, rather than how they are measured--the following recipe is an approximation. But this dish is also pretty darn forgiving, like most comfort food, so a little more or a little less of something or other won't a disaster make.

Pear Almond Tart

Pears. I love pears. I love autumn's fresh, juicy pears even better than crisp, juicy fall apples. Last weekend we had a collaborative dinner with my mom, aunt, and uncle. We were on bread and dessert duty. (Keep an eye out for our favorite no-knead bread recipe--coming soon.) Now, I consider myself much more of a chef than a baker. If I opened a restaurant, I would hire a crack pastry chef rather than take that role myself. That said, I do like to try my hand at the pastry arts now and again. And this dinner party gave me just the right incentive.

After pouring over all my recipe resources, I settled on this one: Macrina Bakery's Pear & Honey Custard Tart with Sweet Almond Crust. From my visits to the bakery, I know Leslie Mackie has a way with pastry, so I entrusted myself and my family to her. She didn't disappoint--this is a great celebration dessert that tastes as good as it looks--but I think I would improve my results with a little practice.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

I don't make fresh pasta often enough. I tend to think it takes too much work, but when I have it I'm reminded how fun the process is and how great the final product tastes. There was a time in college when I made gnocchi a lot, but I haven't attempted it in years. When I saw this recipe in the October issue of Gourmet, I knew it was time to give it a try once again, for a special occasion--our two year anniversary. I'm happy to say I turned out some of the best gnocchi I've ever made.

Intentions

I've decided to start an online compilation of my favorite recipes. I have too many favorites in too many locations, and I'd like to centralize them in one single, aesthetically pleasing, easily searchable location. Hopefully others will find my collection helpful as well. I intend to post a recipe with photos at least once a week. So stay tuned and let the collaborations begin!